


The Pen Thing

by ilvbrwns



Category: B: The Beginning (Anime)
Genre: A pen is involved, Action, Alcohol, Because she's been kidnapped, Comedy, Crack Treated Seriously, Drama, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Fluff and Crack, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Idiots in Love, Jealousy, Kaela is confused af, Lily's forced into therapy, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Past & present time, Pining, Romantic Comedy, She literally can't outrun it, Some Action, Some Plot, Unreliable Narrator, back and forth between time periods, but mostly comedy, lily centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 09:02:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15726216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilvbrwns/pseuds/ilvbrwns
Summary: So maybe the whole getting captured thing had been Lily's fault. But Kaela really isn't making much of an effort in helping them escape, now. Also, there is the fact that Lily cannot stand her. And no, she doesn't want to talk about it.





	1. Prologue - One Big Mess

 

The humidity of the air was slowly creeping into Lily’s skin, sneakily reducing her body heat. The fact that she hadn’t put on her leather jacket the morning before wasn’t helping and she cursed under her breath, distraught by the discomfort.

There was also the small matter of having her hands tied back behind her, by ropes that had been cutting into her wrists for hours and burning the sensitive area they were coming into contact with. She had tried to wriggle out of them for a while but had come to the obvious conclusion that there was simply no use.

None of that though, was as off-putting as the icy stare she was being subjected to by the person sitting across from her on the opposite side of the room. Unable to take it anymore, it must have been hours now sitting like this in silence, Lily grumbles:

« Go ahead, say it. I know you want to.»

Icy blue eyes lock onto hers.

“I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Tell that to your grumpy face.”

Her colleague makes no effort to hide her annoyance, she’s barely been trying to conceal it to begin with.

“And what would you like me to say Lily? That this is all your fault? Would that make you feel any better?”

“Not particularly, no, but if we want to make it out of here alive we need to work together. And we can’t do that while you’re too busy trying to kill me with your eyes!”

A small, disbelieving noise escapes Kaela’s lips.

“I’m sorry… we need to work together now?”

“Well…”

“ARE KIDDING ME? Do I need to remind you how we even got into this mess in the first place?”

The brunette grimaces, contrite.

“We couldn’t have known they’d be waiting for us in there….” She argues, admittedly rather weakly.

Kaela jumps up in anger, a sight that, given the fact she’d been tied up too, would have been funny if the situation hadn’t been so dire.

“I DID KNOW! I expressly told you not to go in there!”

Lily opens her mouth, to say what she isn’t sure, but Kaela’s having no of it.

“I TOLD YOU to wait for back up! I told you to stay outside but you completely ignored me and went in anyway! You were supposed to wait for my instructions, we were supposed to be working together on this…”

An involuntary scoff escaped Lily’s lips, which she regrets immediately. With any luck, Kaela will miss it with all her yelling?

“What was that? Did you just… scoff at me?”

Nope. No such luck.

“You’re not even sorry are you?” Kaela accuses, her usual cool erased by fear, exhaustion and the desperation that they both feel. “What’s your problem? It’s like you purposely tried to do the exact opposite of what I was telling you to do… it’s like you wanted to spite me or something”

She stops talking and gives Lily another long, hard stare, waiting for the girl to defend herself or at the very least refute her accusations with a plausible, sensible and professional defense.

Thing is, Lily has nothing.

So how had they gotten into this mess?

Simple.

Lily and Kaela had been assigned a case.

_A gang of what we’ve established as six core members, specializing in bank robberies. They’ve been quite successful at it I must say, until last week when a hostage died on their hands. A regrettable accident but one that’s left them exposed. Restless. We’re closing on them and they can feel it._

_Ok.. So what do you need me to do, Erik?_

Actually, wait, scratch that.

Kaela had imposed on her case, a case that Eric had entrusted her with, after Lily had specifically argued that she was experienced enough and didn’t need anybody to babysit her anymore. She didn’t need help and could be trusted. Erick had agreed… only to take back that trust and impose stupid Kaela on her a few days later.

Like Lily couldn’t handle things on her own! Kaela had joined her on her stakeout only to snap orders at her, actually daring to boss Lily around on her own case! She had tried to stop Lily from not following a clear enough lead! Their target, the one she had been trailing for days, had disappeared inside a disinfected building. Like she wasn’t going to follow! The more Lily thought about it, the more she was convinced that the whole mess was stupid Kaela’s fault. Why did she have to follow her into the building, if she was so certain that it was bad idea? She could have waited for backup! That would have been more help than choosing to jump after Lily, like she was some damsel in distress or something.

Well no use dwelling back on Kaela’s mistakes!

They had to get out of here.

“Perhaps if we try to move closer together I could try to lessen your rope…” Lily mumbles.

Kaela’s eyes grow wide.

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed, too shocked to be furious. “You did do it just to spite me! We’re in this mess… because I’m the one who told you not to go inside the building!”

Lily averts her gaze.

“Don’t be ridiculous… I thought the suspect was alone, I took a chance and went in. End of story!”

“Bullshit! This isn’t like you at all! I know how you work, Lily! You’re not reckless, and more importantly you’re a team player! You don’t do that sort of idiotic…”

“Ok! Fine! Maybe, I didn’t feel like listening to you. There! Happy? Can we try to get out of here now?”

The words are flowing out of her lips before she’s even consciously thinking them, the truth eager to be set free. But once they are out, Lily would literally do anything to take them back, given the hard, calculating and disappointed glare she receives. It is knowing, judgmental and so much worse than the anger she’s grown used to.

“Why?”

Kaela’s sudden calm tone surprises her. Suddenly she is disarmed, bare.

And so very small.

“I trust my instincts and… I just didn’t feel like I could trust you. That’s all.”

“You didn’t feel like you could… what does that even mean? Do you think I’ve been compromised? That I could betray the R.I.S… for some lowlife bank robbers and their stupid gang?”

“No!” immediately exclaims Lily, who’s cheeks are growing very red. “Of course not!”

“Then what is it?” Kaela demands like she is thinking out loud, trying to make deductions rather than actually talking to Lily. “Now that I think about it, you’ve been weird for days now!”

Lily tries to even her features into a neutral look but Kaela’s barely paying attention to her, lost in thought. God, she’s going to figure out. She is far from stupid, she’s going to figure it out and even if they make it out of there alive, her life will be over.

“ You’ve been weird since Eric’s party!” the blond exclaims, realization painted all over her face.

That’s it. Lily’s life is over.

“What?” she gulps, pathetically. “No…”

“You have! Why?”

Ridiculous. Like she cares about Eric’s dinner party. There’s absolutely nothing to tell.

“Well come on… out with it! I’m not sure what I did to upset you, to be honest I was fairly drunk, but the sooner I know what I did, the sooner I can apologize and we can work on getting it out of here!”

Lily’s blood suddenly feels like it’s boiling.

“We’re not talking about this.”

There’s an edge to her tone and Kaela’s eyes widen.

“Lily…” she tries, more hesitantly.

“We. Are. Not. Talking. About. This!” she articulates.

If looks could kill, Kaela would be long gone.

Unfortunately she’s still there.

Unwilling to stare at her dumb face any longer Lily closes her eyes. Which isn’t the best idea, because, just like it has for days now, her mind immediately seizes the opportunity to take her back to that night.

***

_One week ago_

 

Lily is pacing animatedly around their office’s floor, trying to attract her dear partner’s attention to no avail.

“You’re coming to Eric’s? You? Really?”

No response. That idiot even has the audacity to pretend he’s typing something.

“You know you don’t have to, right?” Lily insists, amused by his dismissive attitude rather than offended. She has stopped letting it bother her a long time ago. “When I said I would drag you by force earlier, I was obviously kidding!”

Keith sends her a bored look from where he’s sitting, on her right.

“Obviously, because you never impose!” he replies, sarcastically.

She rolls her eyes, willing to humor him.

“ And you never come out with us! You hate socializing even a tiny more than what’s strictly necessary!” she accuses, trying to catch his eyes.

But Keith avoids her and gets up from his desk, walking away with a grunt.

“My point exactly!” Lily calls after him, trailing his distancing figure with her eyes.

“What are you two arguing about now?”

Abruptly, like a child caught doing something forbidden, Lily turns around to face Bran, who’s staring at her with an amused, yet slightly thrown off, little smile.

“That’s wasn’t an argument!” comments Mario who’s not even looking up from his computer. “Trust me, you don’t want to witness one of those.”

Lily frowns at him, despite the fact that he can’t even see it.

“Everybody keeps telling me that! I don’t know if that makes me curious or scared!” comments Bran.

“ANYWAY!” interjects Lily. “Why do you guys think he’s coming? Do you think Eric made him say yes?”

“Please!” Mario scoffs. “Like Eric can make him do anything! I think it’s just that the entire floor’s going to that dinner party and he’s hopping to get laid!”

Upon these words, Mario finally looks up from his screen to see Bran sending him a disgusted look.

“Why would you even go there?” the younger man complains, grimacing. “Lily back me up! Tell him he’s being gross. Please!”

“You’re being gross, Mario!” she chuckles, good-naturedly. “And also, ridiculous. Keith isn’t interested in… that.”

Mario raises an incredulous eyebrow at her.

“In what, having a sex life?”

An association of the words, Keith and sex, finally reach Lily’s brain and suddenly, she feels very jittery. Which is stupid and unexplainable and making her feel even more uncomfortable than she already is.

“Oh come on! He’s practically ancient!” she tries to joke.

“He’s not even forty…!” Bran interjects, unhelpfully.

“He’d tell me if… he wanted…” Lily interrupts herself, realizing how that sounds. “I mean he’s never shown any indication of wanting to hook up with anyone!” she concludes, very proud of how casual that sentence comes out.

“Well of course, he’s not going to tell you!” Mario mocks.

What is that supposed to mean?

“Keith tells me … stuff!” counters Lily, offended by the insinuation. “He trusts me.”

“There’s a line between stuff, personal stuff, and sex stuff!” says Bran, grimacing at the last words. “Why are we even talking about this? Who cares why he’s coming or what he wants to do?”

“Not me!” says Mario, sending Lily a sly look.

She walks away from him, nose high up in the air.

To think all this happened only three little hours before Eric’s diner party.

Three hours before the worst night of Lily’s entire existence.

***

_Present day_

 The door of their cell is abruptly opened, snapping Lily out of her thoughts.

One of the gang’s member, a man from the looks of it although it’s hard to tell with the mask he’s wearing to cover his face, pushes someone inside who ends up on the floor, quivering in fear.

Surprised at this turn of events, Lily quickly inspects the new comer’s form. Does she know this man? Is he from the RIS? Is he one of them? No she’s never seen him. And given his state of distress, he must be a civilian. The guy’s shaking so much she wouldn’t be shocked to see him wetting his pants any minute now.

“Please… please I don’t know an-anything!” the victim quivers in trembling voice.

He receives a kick to the gut and yelps in pain.

“Shut up!” blurts out the masked figure.

A man, then. There’s no mistaking a voice like this.

“So are you going to let us out of here or what?” Lily nags, hoping to make the guy talk.

Any information, about where they are and what the gang is planning to do with them, would be welcomed at this point.

But the mask figure just gives a long stare.

“Keep talking and we’re gagging you!” he mutters.

And then he is out of the room, slamming the door on them and engaging the lock.


	2. Eric's Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m not holding a grudge!” Kaela accuses, annoyed. ”You’re the one who’s got a problem with me!”
> 
> “I do not… for the hundredth time, I was just following our lead!”
> 
> “Oh really?” Kaela smirks dangerously. “So what about the pen thing then?”
> 
> Lily gulps, frozen in shock.

 

 

A tense silence settles upon the room once the door is locked again. Only the newcomer’s sharp intakes of breath fill the void. Well, that is until…

 

“Nicely played, Lily!”

 

“Shut up!”

 

“Please…” sobs the man from where his face is plastered on the floor. “ I don’t… want to die…”

 

“What a drama queen!” Kaela mutters with an eye roll.

 

“It’s ok!” Lily tries to appease, feeling kind of sorry for the poor guy. “What’s your name?”

 

Stick to simple questions, give them a sense of normality and induce comfort. She’s been trained for this!

 

The man sends her a pitiful look.

 

“Le… Lenny!” he murmurs.

 

“We’ll get you out Lenny, ok? You have nothing to fear! We’re cops!”

 

“LILY!” Kaela sends her a furious look. “They didn’t know that! Maybe he’s on their side and they’ve sent him for information!

 

The little man, who can’t be much taller than Lily standing up but is definitely much larger lying down, chubby stature and all, glances up worriedly.

 

“I’m not! I swear!!” Lenny exclaims, demonstrating a slight lisp.

 

“See? He’s just some rando! No one can fake such a sorry-ass look!” Lily argues. “No offense, man!”

 

“None taken!”

 

“Still!” Kaela frowns, unhappily. “Just handing out information like this was foolish!”

 

“I was trying to help! We have a duty to protect the people of Cremona and we sure as hell aren’t protecting this one if we let him die of heart attack caused by stress!”

 

“He is not our priority right now, Lily!”

 

“And you’re not the boss of me, Kaela!”

 

Their new cellmate rises to a sitting position and looks at the both of them in confusion.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Both women interrupt their staring contest to turn their angry gaze on the civilian, who quivers a little under their scrutiny. Despite his obvious discomfort, he goes on:

 

“I wouldn’t want to assume but… I feel like there might be some unresolved tension between you two ladies and, as much as this isn’t my place to say because I have no idea about what it’s like to work in a police force, although don’t get me wrong I admire you people…”

 

“Oh for crying out loud, just spit it out!” barks Kaela.

 

“Surely you’ll need to work together to get me—hum—US out of here and you can’t do that while you’re both busy holding a grudge!” He looks from Kaela to Lily encouragingly as he speaks. “A grudge that’s sure to get worst under the stressful situation we find ourselves in!”

 

He hunches his shoulders a little like he is afraid to receive another blow for daring to challenge them.

 

“Thank you!” Lily exclaims, looking at Kaela triumphantly. “That’s what I’ve been telling her all along!”

 

“I’m not holding a grudge!” Kaela accuses, annoyed. ”You’re the one who’s got a problem with me!”

 

“I do not… for the hundredth time, I was just following our lead!”

 

“Oh really?” Kaela smirks dangerously. “So what about the pen thing then?”

 

Lily gulps, frozen in shock.

 

“What is this pen thing?” Lenny asks, curious.

 

“Some stupid work anecdote that’s not worth talking about!” Lily mutters, feeling her cheeks go red.

 

“I was simply borrowing her pen…”

 

“I hadn’t given you permission!” Lily barks, embarrassment forgotten.

 

“See?” Kaela turns to Lenny for support. “Don’t let her fool you! She looks normal until suddenly she snaps!”

 

“HEY!”

 

“Ok, ok! Let’s take a step back and breath alright?” Lenny suggests, soothingly.

 

At least he seems distracted from his fear, Lily tells herself consolingly.

 

“You have nothing to worry about! I’m going to help you solve the underlying anger threatening your teamwork abilities!”

 

“Are you a therapist?” Kaela asks, disbelieving.

 

“Oh no! I’m the building’s janitor! I was passing by and suddenly these masked men jumped me and…”

 

“Wait! So you know where we are?” Lily asks, excitedly. “That’s great news…”

 

Lenny shushes her.

 

“Let’s dive into it shall we? Who would like to start telling me about the pen thing first?”

 

“There’s nothing to talk about…”

 

“It happened the day after Eric’s party!” Kaela explains, enthusiastically.

 

Lily groans: so much for not giving the guy information. Kaela must be really desperate if she’s that willing to talk to him about their problems…

 

“He’s just a janitor, he can’t help us Kaela…”

 

“Who is Eric? When did this party take place?”

 

Kaela sends Lily a hesitant look but seeing the other girl avert her eyes, starts to talk.

 

“Eric is our boss. And the party was …”

 

 

***

 

_Ten days ago_

 

“So…” Lily begins while parking her car in front of Eric’s apartment building.

 

Keith gives her a slightly curious look, probably because she’s letting that sentence trail for absolutely no reason.

 

“So?” he encourages, rather patiently for someone who’s not particularly big on showing any sign of interest in what other people think.

 

He’s waiting for her to speak instead of unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car.

 

“You came!” Lily blurts out, blushing at the sheer stupidity of her own comment.

 

Keith frowns.

 

“Yes?”

 

He looks thrown off.

 

Of course he came. She picked him up herself. They stopped to buy wine on the way and they chose it together, along with some food. It’s been obvious for a while now that Keith, her aloof and borderline misanthropist work partner, was actually willingly coming out with them. He even looked passably happy about it.

 

Well has happy as he could look. Meaning, a little less stern than usual.

 

Lily scratches her throat and tries to cover her apprehension with a laugh. There’s nothing to feel apprehensive about. Keith is allowed to come out to a social gathering for no reason at all.

 

“Mario thinks you decided to come out because there’s someone from work you’re interested in!”

 

Granted that wasn’t the exact wording he’d used, but she isn’t about to repeat exactly what’s been said, for the sake of her sanity.

 

Keith blinks and for a moment it looks like he’s about to say something. The atmosphere in the car changes, the air suddenly feels charged with something, and Lily isn’t quite sure why or if that’s a pleasant feeling or not.

 

She forces a laugh out of her throat, hoping Keith will join in.

 

He doesn’t.

 

“I mean you’d tell me if you were… interested in someone in particular? Right?” she squeaks, her heart beating way too fast for it to be comfortable. “You know I’m your bro!”

 

Keith sends her an incredulous look.

 

“My what?”

 

“Your bro! Just say the words and I’m there! I can help you! If you want… I mean you know you can count on me right?”

 

Her heart calms down. Yes, that’s right. She’s Keith friend! Keith’s very supportive friend and she’s super cool with all of this. So cool, in fact, that she will help him get the girl. This isn’t weird at all. Nope.

 

“And you’re my bro! I’m comfortable telling you things! Like, for example, there’s this new doctor coming tonight, Tom? We flirted a little last week and now he’ll be there and who knows, something might happen between us! Which is why I put on a nice dress! And I’m telling you… because you’re my bro!”

 

Keith stares at her with a guarded expression for a second longer, letting his eyes run over her outfit, and than he’s rolling his eyes and opening the door on his right.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

She trails after him, at peace with the situation.

 

Everything is right with the world.

 

She babbles about her day all the way up to Eric’s place during the elevator ride, earning herself the usual grunts of reply she’s gotten accustomed to and everything feels so safe and normal again, she can barely contain her excitement.

 

***

_Present day_

 

“So Kaela, tell me a little more about this party and why you believe it holds the secret to your issues with Lily!”

 

The blond sighs

 

“I’m not sure it’s the source of her issues. But I do know she started acting totally out of character the day after that party! With the pen thing! And I don’t remember most of it, so it’s possible that I’ve done or said something that might have offended her there.”

 

Lily’s heart speeds up. She needs to think of a way out of here, PRONTO!

 

“I see…” Lenny says in what he must believe is a professional voice. “What I take from this is that you, Lily and others of your coworkers, have gone to a party and that you started noticing what you interpret as strange behavior from Lily the following day. However, you cannot be sure if Lily hasn’t started acting strange before, nor can you be sure something took place between you and Lily that night, because you were, I’m guessing, under the influence of either alcohol or drugs?”

 

“Or both!” Lily mocks, rolling her eyes.

 

“Would you say you make a habit out of consuming too many mind numbing substances Kaela?” Lenny inquires very seriously.

 

Lily snickers.

 

“This isn’t about me!” Kaela scoffs, displeased. “This is about Lily!”

 

“Yes! Lily, who you've potentially offended while under the influence!”

 

“Well come to think of it I don’t know if I’m the one who offended her…” Kaela wonders. “Maybe something else happened and now she’s just taking her anger out on everyone at work?”

 

“Interesting!” Lenny exclaims in exaggerated enthusiasm. “How do you feel about this Lily?”

 

“Like I really need to pee!”

 

“Deflection!” Kaela points out, turning to Lenny. “That’s a sign, right?”

 

Lily groans.

 

“Perhaps! Depends on what we can establish as regular behavior where she is concerned… would you say Lily’s usually more open about discussing her feelings?”

 

As Kaela ponders the question, Lily would love nothing more than to slam her head together with Lenny’s.

 

“I think so! She’s very spontaneous, sociable… friendly!”

 

“So perhaps… she’s undergone a severe emotional shock which has deeply effected her psyche, making her repress her feelings and hence, having her dealing with them anyway that she can however unhealthy…”

 

“You do know I’m sitting right here?” Lily interrupts even though no one is paying attention to her.

 

“Oh, wait! I just remembered something!” Kaela pipes in, excitedly.

 

“Wonderful, Kaela! Our past is an essential part of our identity, you know?”

 

“Sure, sure!” Kaela gives Lily a sideway glance, wanting to read her reaction for what she is about to say. “Tom was there!”

 

Lily raises an innocent eyebrow.

 

“Who is this Tom?” Lenny demands.

 

“A hot doctor that Lily’s super into! They hanged out together during most of the night…”

 

“That's not true!” Lily protests, regret clenching her gut.

 

She really hadn’t seen it this way…

 

“Well then!” concludes Lenny. “Tell me more, tell me more!”

 

***

 

_Ten days ago_

 

Nothing particular happens for the first few hours after they arrive. Lily mingles with familiar faces, choosing to spend her time with people she actually knows like Mario or Bran, rather than with other departments she’s not used to interacting with.

 

Her eyes follow Keith’s slim figure on their own accord. She wonders if anybody else notices that he is slightly drunk by now. It’s very subtle, in the way his eyes are ironically more focused than usual, like he’s willing to listen to someone talk instead of getting lost in his thoughts, or in the increasingly relaxed posture he displays, languidly leaning against the back of a couch as he’s talking with Boris.

 

Also he is much less guarded with his smiles and Lily finds that she likes it.

 

“What are you so happy about?” Bran asks, pulling her out of thoughts.

 

“Nothing!” she defends, trying but failing to look away from Keith. “I mean nothing in particular…”

 

It’s at that exact moment that he catches her starring and their eyes lock, too long for her not to realize they’re being weird. As he walks over to her, she wants to pretend that she isn’t expecting him but she’s intrigued by how focused him seems, green eyes locked upon her with purpose.

 

“Lily.”

 

The way he says her name, even though he’s spoken it a million time and that particular one shouldn’t feel any different, evokes an intimacy they rarely chose to display.

 

She can’t help the vibrant smile she sends him, nor the slight blush she feels rising to her cheeks. In turn, he gives her a small, but affectionate smile.

 

And then, Bran scratches his throat.

 

“Hey!” he says to Keith, kind of awkwardly.

 

The latter deadpans him with a look and Bran coughs.

 

“More wine anyone?”

 

He fills everybody’s glass and Keith sips on his distractedly, occasionally giving Bran a displeased scowl that pleases Lily because she’s not on the receiving end of it for once.

 

They fall into easy conversation until the cute doctor Lily had been mentioning to Keith earlier joins them from out of nowhere.

 

“Guys, this is Tom!” Lily introduces, with less excitement than she thought she’d feel.

 

“Good to see you Lily!”

 

He placing a casual hand on the small of her back and she tenses, catching Keith’s eye before he can pretend he hasn’t notice the gesture by gulping down the rest of his drink.

 

“Oh!” Tom says, contrite. “I’m sorry! Are you… I didn’t know you guys were together!”

 

He’s looking from Lily to Keith, embarrassed. Bran, in turn, focuses on her like he’s very eager to see what she’ll reply. The tension from earlier in the car returns full force and Lily gives Keith a hopeful look, expecting him to refute the ludicrous claim. But instead, he looks at her too casually and she feels like she can’t breathe. Why isn’t he saying anything? Why isn’t Bran? Why would Tom, the cute doctor who flirts with her even think…

 

“We’re not together!” she exclaims like she just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world. She laughs a little. “We work together that’s all. And not by choice, trust me! Right Keith?”

 

His shoulders tense and for a second, he almost seems… affected somehow? Offended maybe. Except that’s impossible! Why would he be offended by any of that absurd conversation anyway?

 

***

_Present time_

 

“Ok… so Lily was hooking up with Hot Tom...” summarizes Lenny.

 

“That’s not what happened!” Lily moans in irritation.

 

Kaela and Lenny royally ignore her. Seriously, they’re ignoring her so hard it’s not even funny.

 

“Well… I guess she was? Who wouldn’t want to hook up with him, I mean you should have seen the guy’s ass…”

 

It’s like she’s watching a parody of her life unfold right before her very eyes. Mortifying.

 

“I wasn’t interested!” Lily protests.

 

This gets her Kaela’s attention back.

 

“Wait…” the blond woman starts, worry suddenly piercing her features. “Do you mean… Lily did he do anything inappropriate?”

 

Lily blinks. What?

 

“Lily!” Lenny exclaims in horror. “Did Hot Tom force himself on you?”

 

“He totally did, didn’t he?” Kaela roars, furious. “That mother fucking hot scumbag, I swear the minute we walk out of here I’m going to find him and cut off his ba—“

 

“For crying out loud, he didn’t do anything, ok? I’m fine!” Lily counters, feeling sorry for Tom who’s done nothing wrong.

 

And also, who’s not even that hot. Had they not been looking at the same guy or what?

 

“Oh, Goodness, that’s a relief!” Lenny exhales.

 

“Thank you for your concern though!” Lily tells Kaela, oddly touched.

 

They exchange a tentative smile.

 

“See? We’re making progress here!” Lenny smiles brightly. “Kaela how about we try and reconstruct what you were up to while Lily was talking to Tom?”

 

Lily freezes.

 

“Alright…” Kaela takes a second to think. “Well… I spent most of the evening with Eric. He’s our boss but he knows how to party. We had few beers. Some wine and then I think we started doing shots…”

 

“Jesus!” Lily mutters to herself.

 

“Oh! And that’s when our colleague Keith joined us.”

 

Fuck.

 

Lenny’s eyes glint in heightened interest.

 

“Keith? You mean… ‘the’ Keith Flick?” he asks in eagerness.

 

“Seriously?” Lily exclaims in frustration. “You have no idea who anyone in this story is but you’ve heard of Keith?”

 

Lenny gives her a disbelieving look.

 

“Well of course I’ve heard of him I mean who hasn’t? He’s famous!” the man replies, excitement not dying down. “So what’s he like in real life, then?” he asks Kaela.

 

“Obnoxious!”

 

“He is NOT—“

 

Two faces turn to look at Lily.

 

“--- That obnoxious!” she finishes, lamely.

 

“So Keith Flick joined you and your boss…” Lenny encourages.

 

“Yes!” Kaela nods, concentrating on the memories. “He’s the one who brought the vodka!”

 

***

_Ten days ago_

 

Lily doesn’t see Keith for a whole hour.

 

She makes a real point out of not seeing him actually, fervently throwing herself into a conversation with Tom that she doesn’t care the least about. Uneasy, she carefully avoids drinking and sticks to water or juice. It feels strange watching her colleagues grow more and more lax while she’s standing there feeling more and more tense.

 

However, it strikes her she hadn’t really seen strange until she witnesses Keith’s burst of laughter from across the room.

 

He’s standing, next to Erik who’s gesticulating animatedly, probably telling him the type of inappropriate anecdotes he always seem to come up with when he had too much too drink.

 

However Lily’s unconcerned with Erik, enthralled by the long, exposed line of Keith’s neck, as he throws back his head in amusement. She was wise to cut back on the booze! Even without it, she feels very warm, too warm in fact and so she almost misses the way he’s leaning onto Kaela’s shoulder for support.

 

But then she does notice and unfortunately she can’t un-see it.

 

She’s beside them in an instant, fingers encircling Keith’s arm in a distinctively possessive manner that would have been embarrassing if the trio hadn’t already been well past inebriated.

 

Eric is telling what is probably supposed to be a joke but which doesn’t make any sense, highly amusing Kaela regardless. The woman’s leaning into Keith’s frame like she belongs there and he doesn’t seem to mind, holding her up distractedly.  

 

He does smile, rather fondly, when he notices Lily but it feels slightly off now, probably because of the glassiness of his gaze.

 

“Hey!” It dawns on her that she has no excuse for inserting herself beside him and holding onto his arm like it belongs to her.

 

Embarrassed, she thinks of letting go but then he raises a rather unsteady hand towards her and she’s distracted by the unusual gesture.

 

“Keith?”

 

His fingers slip into her hair like it’s the most natural thing in the world. She gulps, freezing into place when his index grazes the skin of her cheek.

 

“What… are you doing?”

 

“You had a thing!” Keith justifies, slurring his words.

 

He lowers his hand and she feels strangely disappointed.

 

“You’re drunk!” she accuses, feeling a little hesitant.

 

She’s never seen him drunk before. She’d always thought he’d be more broody but instead he seems relaxed and apparently leaning towards affectionate.

She’s not sure what to make of that.

 

“Barely!” he replies, raising the glass he’s holding to his lips in provocation.

 

Lily smirks. Quickly, and with a precision he can’t possibly match in the state he’s in, she prevents him from sipping anymore by lowering his drink out of his reach.

 

“You’ve had enough!” she chastises but with no bite to her words.

 

“What are you my mom? I thought you were… what was it… my ‘bro’?”

 

Perturbed by his leaden stare, Lily’s uncertain whether it’s her or the effects of the alcohol that wins her a too lazy smile. Rolling her eyes, she adjusts his glasses back up his nose, reminding herself that his cheekbones flush because of his inebriated state, not her contact.

 

“Hey Lily!”

 

Kaela leans in towards her, encircling Keith’s neck with her arm in the process.

 

“Who’s that cute guy you’ve been flirting with?”

 

The instinct to push her away from him is so overpowering, Lily needs a second to refocus. Then, she sends Kaela an affronted look, making the trio burst into roaring laughter.

 

“She looks so offended!” giggles Erik, drying out a tear from the corner of his eye. “You know we were young once too, Lily!”

 

“Wait… are you implying that I’m old?” Kaela slowly protests, hitting his arm.

 

An argument about their age begins however Lily pays no attention to it because suddenly someone’s pressed against her and murmuring huskily into her ear.

 

“Lily?”

 

She nervously bites her lip before replying. Since when can Keith make his voice sounds like that?

 

“Yes?” In comparison, her high pitch tone comes of as nervous and uncertain.

 

“What happened to your doctor friend?”

 

He’s teasing her. But what matters more is that she can feel the light graze of his lips against her sensitive skin and unlike him, she’s aware that it isn’t supposed to feel so good.

 

 _Dammit Lily,_ her conscience screams at her, _do something!_

 

With a sigh, she turns her head to him, and they’re so close now that she’d simply have to raise her chin and they’d be kissing…

 

 _I didn’t mean it like that and you know it!_ Her stupid conscience insists.

 

Groaning, Lily holds her index in front of Keith’s eyes.

 

“How many fingers am I holding?”

 

He furrows his brows at first and than pouts, rather adorably.

 

“That’s a trick question!”

 

Right. Very drunk then.

 

Reluctantly, Lily moves away from him. Letting your colleague flirt with you when they’re not clearheaded enough to know what they’re doing is not a good life decision.

 

“ Keith…” she tells him, patiently. “I think you need to sleep this one off…”

 

“I’m fine!” he protests while spilling half of his drink on Lily’s white shoes.

 

“Yes.” She sighs. “Obviously.” She takes his hand. “Come on! I’ll take you home, ok?”

 

He looks at her drowsily and for an moment she thinks he’s going to protest but, looking at their clasped hands, he nods.

 

“Alright…”

 

Finding him surprisingly compliant, she proceeds to drag him away and it’s as slow as helping someone walk can be, especially when said someone has a good 30 cm on you. But this doesn’t deter Lily who’s nothing if not determined. However just before they can get to the front door…

 

“There you are!” Tom says, like he’s materialized out of thin air. “Want to head to that burger place like we’ve talked about earlier? ”

 

Lily holds back the urge to smack him. Can’t he see she’s busy here?

 

“Oh look, it’s Tom!” Keith sways his finger at the guy’s face. “You’re doctor boyfriend that Kaela approves off!”

 

“Wow!” Tom takes a step back in surprise. “He’s… hum… ”

 

“Wasted?” Lily supplies, unimpressed. “Very. I’m sorry Tom but rain check ? I have to drive him home…”

 

Keith moves away from her, almost losing his balance in the process. Letting go of her hand, he rubs the space between his eyes tiredly, like he’s hoping to regain his focus.

 

“I’m fine Lily!” He says, making a sluggish hand gesture in their direction. “You go… have fun!”

 

“But Keith…”

 

“It’s fine!”

 

She stares at him staggering away, feeling very, very small.

 

***

 

_Present Day_

 

“And that concludes our night!” Lily says, interrupting Kaela’s hazy recollection of the events. “Nothing more to tell, wasn’t anything special, not holding a grudge, I’ve just been menstruating, end of story!”

 

Kaela tries to shrug, even though with her hands tied back behind her it doesn’t look like much.

 

“I guess she’s right.”

 

“Oh no!” Lenny looks at them in turn, a spark of glee lighting his eyes. “Something happened, I can feel it! You ladies have a lot of issues… and we’re just getting started!”

 

Lily turns a desperate eye to the door of their cell. She’s never been more willing to face dangerous gang member in her entire life.

 

Where are these guys when you need them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That concludes chapter 1! For those wondering where Lenny came from...i've got no fucking clue!


	3. Brightside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily sees Kaela reaching across the table to get to her pen and can only stare in shock when she grabs it absently, despite the fact that Lily’s hasn’t given her permission to use it. Kaela raises the pen to her lips, tapping it against the pink skin before deciding what she wants to write. 
> 
> Lily’s left gaping at her like a fish for a second. 
> 
> And then…
> 
> “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”

Lenny is staring at Lily thoughtfully, like he’s trying to pretend he’s figuring her out, even though she’s certain he has no fucking clue what he’s doing.

The man turns to Kaela.

“What about you?” he asks. “What do you remember doing? Apart from hanging out with your boss?”

The blond frowns in concentration.

“Not much.” She admits, grudgingly. “But I don’t think it was anything special”

Lily’s hands clench painfully.

“Oh really?” she comments, words dripping in sarcasm. “Nothing special?”

She scoffs in anger, making Lenny turn to her questioningly.

“Well why don’t you tell us your version of the events, Lily?” he asks, patiently. “You seem to remember everything well.”

Blushing, Lily avoids making eye contact.

“There’s nothing more to add.” She comments, tone flat.

“I don’t think that’s true!” Lenny replies, carefully. “On the contrary. I feel there’s plenty more to add.”

***

_Ten days ago_

Tom babbles on for a good half hour, which Lily spends trying not to sound impolite and too suspiciously worried about her drunken partner.

After all he’s a grown man and they’re at an enclosed, private party so it’s not like anything bad could happen to him… That is what Lily tells herself in an effort to tone down the uneasiness that’s been creeping upon her the moment he had disappeared from her sight.

When Boris walks past her, she seizes her chance and grabs his arm, cutting short her date’s story.

“Have you seen Keith?” she asks, as casually as she can.

Boris scratches his head.

“Keith? I think… he left with Kaela a little while ago. They said they were heading home?”

“Oh! I see…” Lily voices rises stupidly high but she can’t bring herself to care.

Dejected, she quickly makes up an excuse and soon enough, she is also walking out of Eric’s building, thoughts focused on Keith and wherever he could be by now.

However, she doesn’t have to ask herself this for long.

Walking towards her car, parked around the corner, her attention is grasped by the joint laughter of two people, a couple from the sound of it and Lily looks up before she can reach them, freezing in her tracks.

A few miles before her are Keith and Kaela, locked into an obscenely intense make out session against a building’s wall.

Shocked, Lily’s stands there starring at them for much too long to be socially appropriate yet unable to move an inch, with all her energy being spent into holding back a horrified scream.

Keith pushes Kaela a little further up the wall as she buries her fingers into his recently cut hair (he had it cut exactly 6 days ago) and it should have been that.

Lily had seen enough to know she couldn’t just stay there. But for some reason, she finds herself jumping behind a bush, to get a better view of the scene.

“What are you doing, you idiot!” she mumbles to herself, peeking out from her hiding place and driven by a displaced, disturbing sense of fascination that is making her feel terrified, angry and awed all at the same time.

Avidly, she drinks in every little detail of the interaction: the way Keith’s is pinning Kaela against him, how he appears to enjoy it when her lips brushes his neck, or how their bodies seem to mold together perfectly…

Keith groans and to Lily it feels like a brutal punch in the gut. She snaps out of her trance, breathing ragged and mortified, she turns away from them to burry her face into her hands. What is she doing? She is purposely spying on a private moment… what right does she have, to just stand there… no, hide there, and look?

“You’re going insane!” she whispers to herself with a shaky breath. “This entire night is insane.”

She remains, unmoving, for a good ten minutes before praying for the coast to be clear.

But when she slowly rises and finds Keith and Kaela gone, she feels no relief.

***

_Present day_

“And the next day, I woke up in my living room and I don’t even remember how I got home but let me tell you, I had the mother of all migraines—“

The door of the cell is abruptly opened by another mask figure, who Lily isn’t sure is the same as before.

“Will you all shut the fuck up?!” the man bellows in annoyance. “You’re being held here against your will, this isn’t a catch up session!”

Lenny cowers at the sight of him but Kaela just rolls her eyes.

“Well what do you want us to do, we’re bored out of our minds!” she complains, unhappy about having been interrupted in the middle of her recollection of her night.

The masked man sighs dramatically.

“I can’t take this anymore!” he complains, seething. “I’m telling the boss where he can shove it! He might shoot me in the head but I’ll take my chances! Listening in on you guys, now that’s what’s sure to kill me.”

Upon his words, Kaela turns to Lily triumphantly.

“See? I knew they were listening in!”

“Well kudos to you then!” Lily deadpans.

The masked man clenches his head into his hands.

“Arg! Lily! Stop being so passive aggressive and just tell these idiots what’s up with you for crying out loud! Your avoiding your issues harder than a telenovela’s heroine!”

Lily’s draw drops.

“Right?!” Kaela jumps in, looking for sympathy. “She’s killing us here! We’re all adults, we’re old enough to express our feelings!”

“There’s nothing to tell!” Lily explodes, forgetting that she’s supposed to be horrored by the absurdity of this entire situation, especially the part where even her captors are now butting into her life.

“Of course there is!” Their guard argues, very seriously. “Why won’t you tell us… hum, I mean them, what happened at Eric’s party?”

“It’s clearly a sensitive spot!” Lenny says, cautiously. “Give her some time, she’ll come around!”

“She’s had nothing but time!” replies the guard. “Spit it out!” he adds, turning to Lily.

Lily wants to tell him he’s the lamest excuse for a gangster she’s even seen, the guy practically jumping around in anticipation for gossip after all, but then she notices something shining from his jacket’s pocket.

A knife.

A knife that might just drop out of its place if its owner keeps moving around like he does. Giving Kaela a pointed look and hopping the woman will follow her lead, Lily starts to stall their captor.

***

_Ten days ago_

 

Lily drives home in a trance, hands gripping at the wheel so tight she is vaguely aware they hurt but can’t bring herself to care.

She notices the hard, tense set of her jaw in her bathroom mirror and stare accusingly at herself for a while, before exhaustion drives her to crawl into bed and turn off her light.

She stare into the darkness of her room, simply feeling the hard, painful beat of her heart that seems determined to burst out of its place. It’s hurting her.

She tries to take a deep, calming breath and closes her eyes.

But the image of Keith, tightly holding Kaela in his arms keeps haunting her.

A shrill little laugh escapes her lips.

“You’re being ridiculous!” she tells herself, burying her cheek into her pillow. “Just stop thinking about it, it was just a kiss.”

Her fingers drum against the mattress.

What if… what if it wasn’t just a kiss? What happened afterwards? Did they go home together? What are they doing now?

But of course, she’s knows exactly what they’re doing right now!

She’s picturing them together in Keith’s bed, as clearly as if she was in the room with them; him removing her dress, her wrapping her legs around his hips. He’s kissing down her throat, she’s unbuckling his belt and all of his intense, beautiful focus is on her and Lily… can’t… breathe!

“Dammit!” she exclaims sitting up in a jump.

She rubs her face tiredly. God, she’s exhausted, she needs to sleep. They have work tomorrow. But how is she supposed to sleep when it feels like some heavy weight has settled upon her chest forever? She forces in a calming breath and settles herself back down on her mattress. The stupid weight just wont’ budge and her mouth tastes like ash.

Deep breath. Close your eyes. Deep breath.

She’s trembling.

He seemed to enjoy it a lot that kiss. Maybe he’s wanted it for a while? And why wouldn’t he? Kaela’s a very beautiful woman. Smart too. They’d go well together.

Does he love her?

Lily jumps back up again, furiously throwing her pillow across the room. Just the idea of it, the possibility…

Her heartbeat is so erratic now that she’s starting to feel nauseous.

No! No, no, no, no! That’s simply unacceptable. He cannot be in love with Kaela… right? That woman doesn’t understand him at all. Not like Lily does… wait what?

She remembers the feel of his lips against her ear, the weight of his arm around her and she moans in frustration.

They’re just friends! Keith is her friend!

He’s free to do as he pleases. If he wants to sleep around with co-workers in a totally unprofessional manner then that’s his problem. It will probably hit him right back in the face… Ah! see if she cares! She certainly won’t be there to pick of the pieces when Kaela dumps his sorry ass…

Lily is suddenly very angry at Kaela for upsetting Keith, before she remembers that it hasn’t technically happened yet.

In a slow, tortuous haze, the night passes. Soon enough, light pierces into her room, and Lily, who hasn’t slept a minute still, stares at her ceiling.

***

_Present day_

 

“So yeah…” Lily concludes, putting on her most falsely innocent face, the one that used to drive her brother mad. “I cleaned some dishes, said bye to Tom, and then I drove home!”

Even from behind his mask, she notices the guard’s eyes widening.

“Who do you take me for woman?!” he explodes, furious. “I know you’re lying! Hell!” He points to Lenny, making a sudden hand movement in the process. “Even this idiot knows your lying!”

“Hey! That’s not very—“

Lily doesn’t hear the rest of his sentence because, at this very moment, the knife drops to the floor.

“OH MY GOD!” she yells, hoping to cover the noise of the impact. “ I JUST REMEMBERED SOMETHING!”

Everyone turns to her, which is blessing in disguise. The good part is that the guard hasn’t noticed his knife, lying at his feet. But the bad part is that Lily now has to come up with a good lie and she has nothing. She could go with the truth but… well… she’d rather have the guard pick the knife to be honest.

Luckily, an unexpected ally comes to her rescue.

“You know what!” Kaela intervenes, trying to hold the guards gaze. “I don’t even want to hear it! She’s just going to invent something so let’s skip to the part we all want to hear. I’m going to tell you all about the pen thing!”

As the blond begins her story, Lily slowly crawls her way to the guard's feet, praying Kaela can keep his attention away from her.

***

_Nine days ago_

 

The simple task of having to move her body from her room to the office is physically painful.

Lily feels as though all of her energy has been violently drained out of her and yet she is still unbearably tense, so much so that her finger twitch absently from where she has stuffed them inside her coat pockets.

Her cellphone’s ring catches her attention right before she’s about to go inside the office. Seeing Yuna’s name come up on her screen Lily picks up, not having the heart to ignore her even though she feels no desire to speak with anyone.

“Hey Yuna!” Lily greets, cautiously. She doesn’t want to sound rude however she’s hoping to cut this conversation short as soon as she can.

It’s nothing against Yuna but the constant sensation of having a pointy object stuck in one’s throat tends to drive away any desire for civilities.

“Lily!” Yuna exclaims on the other line, in a worried voice. “Have you heard from Keith?”

Lily stops right into her tracks, while she’s using the glass tourniquet door they need to pass to get in and so naturally ends up smashing into.

“Ow!!” she complains into her device.

“Are you ok Lily?”

“Fine!”

Moving out of the way, Lily massages her cheek while switching her phone to her other ear.

“No I haven’t heard from Keith.” Scratch of the throat. Breath intake. “Why?”

“He hasn’t come home!” Yuna explains, sounding about ready to start crying. “This isn’t like him, I’m worried!”

A very vivid image of Keith, happily lounging with his face buried into Kaela’s hair, bursts before Lily’s eyes.

“I’m sure he’s fine!” she manages to snap, feeling her hand tremble. “Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s what Koku keeps saying!” Yuna whispers like she’s ashamed of herself suddenly. “But what if something happened to him?” she sniffs.

Lily instantly feels sorry for her lack of compassion. Yuna only starting to acclimate to her new life in Cremona and after all that she’s been through, for better or worst, Keith is a big part of that life. Apart from Koku, he’s the closest thing Yuna has to family. And, keeping in mind that most her family died before her eyes, Lily can’t really blame the girl for having abandonment issues.

“Don’t worry Yuna!” she says, more warmly. “I’ll ask around ok? We were all together last night.” Well some were more together than others but whatever. “I’m sure someone will have heard from him. I’ll call you if I don’t hear back.”

“Thank you!” Yuna whispers, sounding a little more like herself.

Frowning, Lily stares at her phone after she’s hanged up. What if something did happen to that idiot? With a sigh, she clicks on his name and lets her phone ring.

She is greeted by a half formed grunt instead of a proper hello.

“You better have the mother of all excuses for not calling Yuna back, you ass!” she yells into her device, furious.

“Lily?”

Keith’s voice sounds extremely hoarse. Lily’s heart might not survive the day.

“Call her back now if you want to live!” And before he can add anything that will sound sexy no what it is, she cuts shorts. “Goodbye!”

She sends a quick message to Yuna to reassure her before sticking her phone, back inside her coat pocket angrily.

Breathing in deep and feeling almost dizzy from exhaustion, she makes her way up to her desk. No one is in yet when she arrives apart form Bran, who she pointedly ignores. She’s done enough talking for today. Burying her nose behind her computer screen and isolating herself with her headphones, she crunches into what one could describe as a clear “don’t even try talking to me” position.

How dare he ignores Yuna? How dare he picks up her call when he’d obviously been asleep a minute before? Does he want to rub his hookup in her face or something?

‘Hi Lily!’ She mouths to herself, making mock faces. ‘It’s me Keith, and my super throaty voice. We just wanted to let you know about the great sex we’ve had last night…’

How she loathes him! Him and all the creatures that walk this earth!

Lily holds back a scream and buries her face into her hands, praying everyone’s too hangover to pay attention to her antics. Fighting off the urge to make herself coffee, which would mean she’d have to get up and perhaps talk with someone, she remains in her position until it’s half-past eleven and her screen betrays her with a meeting reminder.

Thinking that perhaps she can get away with pretending that she’s forgotten because of urgent work, Lily purposely ignores three little bell rings until someone, who turns out to be Boris, shakes her shoulder to catch her attention.

“Meeting room!” the old man says, giving her a warm smile.

_Don’t smack him, Lily, don’t smack him. He’s just being nice…_

“Oh… sure.”

Lily trails after him with close to zero enthusiasm.

Overlooking everyone in the meeting room, she dodges into the first seat she sees, strategically placed between Mario and the door as she’s already planning a quick exit.

Eric mutters something about new report processes but Lily focuses on her tablet’s blank screen, instead of whatever he has to say that doesn’t even matter.

“Alright…” Eric mutters in a tired voice. “Kaela do you want to explain how this is going to work?”

Lily’s knee twitches on its own accord, hitting the surface of the table. She curses silently and pretends not to notice Mario’s question look.

“Yep…”

She is aware that Kaela is moving to her right, to stand in front of the room. Her voice is like an aggression and Lily wants to grind her teeth even though she has no idea what the other woman is saying. Her brain just won’t absorb the words.

Suddenly though, she registers Kaela saying her name.

“… mind if I borrow your pen for a second?”

It’s like the next sequence of events happens in slow motion. Probably the effects of sleep deprivation.

Lily sees Kaela reaching across the table to get to her pen and can only stare in shock when she grabs it absently, despite the fact that Lily’s hasn’t given her permission to use it. Kaela raises the pen to her lips, tapping it against the pink skin before deciding what she wants to write.

Lily’s left gaping at her like a fish for a second.

And then…

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!”

Startled, Kaela jumps away from her and the entire room freezes, all eyes on Lily who’s slammed her fist onto the table.

“What do you think you’re doing, Kaela?” Lily mutters between her teeth.

“Hum…” Kaela sends the others a confused look but seeing no one’s coming to her help, choses to carefully reply in what is probably supposed to be a soothing tone. “I’m not sure?”

“Did I say you could take my pen?! Nope, pretty sure I didn’t! And yet what do you do? You just go ahead it and take, like it belongs to you or something! Well, hell NO!”

Kaela stares like a deer caught in the headlight, yet still holding onto to the object their of dispute. Lily wants to physically shake her.

“It’s… just a pen, Lily!” Kaela tries to reason, holding her hands up in defense.

Again, she sends a pleading look to the audience that’s most probably staring at the altercation, but receives no support.

“Just a pen? JUST A PEN?” Lily bolts out of her seat, coming near her. “To you, maybe! You look at this pen and you think, ‘oh here’s a pen. It’s alright, I like it well enough why don’t I take it?” And you know what the worst part is? There are TONS of other pens you could use! To you it would make absolutely no difference, would it? But what do you do? You chose to take that one, specific, pen! MY PEN! All the while not knowing how lucky you are to hold it! Because how could you know? Have you spent many days hanging out with this pen? Has this pen seen you through some hard times? Have you bonded with this pen about common interests that no one else comes close to understanding? Do you ever stop to consider this pen’s feelings? Do you worry about this pen’s wellbeing more than your own, because this pen MATTERS? Do you look at this pen and think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?”

Kaela opens her mouth but Lily shuts her up by raising an accusing finger towards her face.

“Of course you don’t! You have no idea how special this pen is! You don’t deserve this pen Kaela! This pen IS MINE!”

Out of breath and panting, she stops.

A long, awkward silence settles itself upon the meeting room, which Lily spends trying to burn the woman down with a stare.

“Please just give her back her pen, Kaela…” Bran whispers from a corner of the room.

Lily hears someone scratch his throat and suddenly Eric’s voice booms into her ears.

“Lily… do you want to take the rest of the day off?”

Lily turns around to face him and finds herself staring into four terrified pair of eyes.

“Do you want to take the rest of the day Eric?” Lily deadpans. “ Because no offense but you look like sh—“

“Alright, alright!” Boris tries to intervene. “ We all had a long night…”

Lily shrieks in frustration.

“ Speak for yourself! No, you know what?” she yells before Boris can pipe in another word. “I’m out of here! You ALL SUCK!”

She opens the meeting room’s door with determination, head held high, only to walk right into none other than Keith’s chest, Keith who choses this particular moment to grant everyone with his presence.

Surprised, Lily takes a step back and finds herself looking into tired eyes, which she notices before everything else such as the ashen looking face that goes with them.

“Lily?” He raises a questioning eyebrow but receiving no reaction, gives the room a quick read before settling his gaze back on her, now harboring a light frown. “Are you ok?”

The sight of him stops her heart. Her anger vanishes in an instant, the only thing she now feels is cold, gut-wrenching pain… well that and the desire for the floor to swallow her whole.

She lowers her gaze, feeling tears start to form behind her eyelids.

“Fine!” she mumbles, bumping his shoulder a little abruptly so that he lets her pass.

He makes no effort to stop her.

“Wait!” She hears Kaela call from behind her. “What about your pen?”

“Whatever!” Lily murmurs, quickening her pace. “You can keep it.”

She vaguely registers someone questioningly asking if she’s still drunk from the night before as she hurriedly walks away, head low and arms crossed around her stomach as if to help stand straight.

Only when she is alone, safe behind the doors of her car, does she allows herself to let go and finally burst into tears

  
***

_Present day_

 

A little silence befalls the room, when Kaela concludes her story.

“Oh my god!” the guard finally mutters. “So Lily’s big secret is… that she has some sort of pen fetish?”

By that point, Lily has almost reached the knife but, seeing the guard turning to face her, she’s forced to throw her body to his feet in order to cover it.

“What… no! Hum… I mean, yes?”

“What are you doing on the floor like that?” the guard wonders, more shocked than suspicious.

“I was… hum… trying to reach Kaela? To make her shut up?” Lily feels herself blush. “But I mean too late, secret’s out! Everyone knows I have a pen fetish… geez how embarrassing, oh well! Moving on!”

The guy frowns and Lily’s sure she’s about to be exposed. She feels her stomach drop, at the idea that what seems like their only hope might be taken away from them.

“You know!” Lenny pipes in cheerfully. “Fetishes are usually based on a form of displacement!”

The guard’s eyes snap back to him.

“What do you mean?” he asks, curiously.

“I mean, that the pen is just an outlet for Lily’s real issues. In other words: this isn’t really about a pen!” Lenny concludes triumphantly.

The guard, from behind his mask, makes an impressed noise.

“Wow! Thank you Captain Obvious!” Kaela snorts. “Nobody saw that one coming!”

“Hey!” the guard defends. “Don’t antagonizing Lenny! He’s trying to help you!”

“Yeah!” Lenny adds, sending their guard a grateful look.

“Fine!” Kaela rolls her eyes. “What I want to know is, if this isn’t really about a pen, than what is it about?”

“Perhaps…” the guard says. “The pen was a present from someone truly special? Like her deceased father?”

“My father’s very much alive, thank you!” Lily intervenes. “And I found that pen forgotten on the floor of some random meeting room!”

“So you admit that you don’t care about this pen!” Kaela remarks, sneakily.

“Well I thought that was super obvious!” Lily mocks, imitating her tone.

At that moment, their guard’s attention is grasped by the radio his carrying on his belt, which makes a sudden noise.

“Yes boss?” he asks into the device. “Ok! I’ll be right there!”

He makes his way out of the room, but gives the prisoners one last look before disappearing.

“This isn’t over Lily! We all know the pen thing isn’t really about a pen!” he declares solemnly.

And then the door is shut back on them.

“This guard is nice!” Lenny declares, concluding that ridiculous episode. “I like him!”

Lily let’s her head drop onto the floor, swallowing her groan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering, yes, I'm fully aware of how dumb this story is! Sorry, not sorry! :D


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